TUMBLEWEED CLUB OF NEW MEXICO MARCH 2012RG #79, EARLY FORD V-8 CLUB OF AMERICA, PO BOX 21538, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87154-1538MEETS FIRST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, 7:30 P.M., OLD CAR GARAGE, 3205 CLAREMONT NE

MARCH PROGRAMPaint and Body by Sean Sena of Sea-Nic 66 Restorations. See article in this newsletter for more details.PLEASE NOTE: All meetings will include Show & Tell. Members are encouraged to bring items to share.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, March 6, 7:30 p.m., at Old Car Garage.

PROGRAM: Paint and Body by Sean Sena of Sea-Nic 66 Restorations. Please see article in this newsletterfor details.

REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED BY: Jay Hertz and Mark Williams. Mark’s daughter will be on hand to passout Girl Scout cookies and make some sales.THIS MONTH’S ACTIVITY: On Saturday, March 12, we will go on a tour of several garages. Please seeJoyce’s article in this newsletter for details.

BREAKFAST GROUP: Please note. The Breakfast Group will meet on Saturday, March 3 at 8:30 a.m.at Rich Ford’s Mustang Café, followed by a tour of Mild-to-Wild. See Joe’s article in this newsletter fordetails.

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Tuesday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., at Jay Hertz’ home, 8704 La Sala Del Sur, NE.Jay’s home phone number is 296-3137. See Jay’s article in this newsletter for details. All members arewelcome.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR MARCH 2012Jay Hertz, PresidentDo you like 1937 Fords? I ask the question because we are celebrating the 75th birthday of that model in2012, and I have been thinking about them. In discussions with other Club members, it seems that the '37models stir lots of emotional reactions, most of them negative. Count me among the Ford lovers who do notlove the '37s. Apparently, the buying public did not love them either, as production that year was significantlylower than the previous V-8 years, this despite the fact that the Great Depression of 1929 was over by 1937.Art Leupold reports that 1937 was a very bad sales year at his family’s Belen dealership. Furthermore, Iunderstand that only one 1937 model has been in the Regional Group in its entire history (not counting theone belonging to Max Glover’s friend), which was a coupe owned by Rosey Rosendale long before I joinedthe Club. Not only are the '37 models relatively uncommon today, but those that survived are worth less thantheir predecessors of 1936 and earlier. Model to model, a 1937 is apt to be worth 10% less than thecomparable 1936, and 15% less than a comparable 1935 model. And you will not find a single 3-windowcoupe among the survivors, since Ford discontinued that model after 1936 production, while continuing tobuild the unpopular roadsters and phaetons which few buyers bought.In this article, I explore what I think are three possible reasons the 1937 models were relatively unpopularthen and scarce among today’s collectors. Perhaps other reasons exist as well. I leave for last theexplanation that seems most likely to account for the phenomenon in my mind.First: Styling. We all know that styling sells cars. It also influences the antique cars we like to collect.Styling is subjective, and just because we may not find a car attractive in 2012 does not mean that it waslikewise rejected by the public in 1937. Tastes change. But the 1937 models may have been equallyunsatisfying visually then and now. Although modeled after the attractive 1936 Zephyrs, the 1937 Fordsappear boxy and ungainly by comparison. They lost the nice little dip in the front and rear bumpers thatmany collectors find attractive about the 1933 through 1936 models. The grille is angular and so is thesweep on the hood side, having lost the nice curvatures of earlier models. The hood, which now openedfrom the rear (like an alligator’s jaw) seems too short and detracts from the car’s proportions.Despite these styling concerns, Ford did make some appearance changes that may have endeared the '37models to buyers of the day. The spare tire was now out of sight on all models except the station wagon,having moved into the trunk. The industry-wide trend toward streamlining was evident on the '37s,particularly with the headlights being molded into the front fenders. The old-fashioned composition top(composed of vinyl over wood slats, chicken wire and cotton batting) was finally discontinued, making for asmooth, one-piece top on closed cars. But Ford came to this improvement late in the game, two yearsbehind Chevrolet’s Master models. All things considered, I suspect that there were enough stylingimprovements in the 1937 models to overcome the awkward appearance, so that styling was probably notthe biggest factor in their poor sales.Second: Engineering Shortcomings. In the 1930s, Ford was notorious for being late to adopt engineeringadvances. By 1937, the buying public could not help but know that Ford was behind the curve, since theother low-price makers did such a good job of pointing this out in their ads. The delay in introducing theone-piece turret top is but one example. Ford’s brakes were slightly updated in 1937 by replacing the rodbrakes with cable brakes. But many manufacturers including Chevrolet had gone to hydraulics earlier, andthey were clearly better. Ford suspensions continued to lag in 1937, retaining the two transverse springsover the axles, while other makers had long since adopted the four-spring approach which yielded a softerride. Although Chevrolet and other GM makes had adopted the knee-action (Dubonnet) independent frontsuspension as early as 1934, Ford was still years away from that improvement in 1937.But, contrasting these engineering shortcomings, Ford did a few things in 1937 that might have won oversome buyers. Ford moved the battery under the hood in 1937. Ford lengthened the frame in 1937, whichmay have contributed to a softer ride. The 1937 models saw the emergency brake handle move from centerto the more popular left side of the car. Ford also improved the power plant options in several ways. Forthe traditional 85 horsepower, 21-stud engine, Ford moved the water pumps to the block, helping to achievebetter cooling. More significantly, Ford introduced the 17-stud V-8 60, which was a 400-pound engine of only136 cubic inch displacement, producing 60 horsepower. It was advertised as an economy measure, bothas to the initial cost of the car and also as to gas mileage. And perhaps there was some truth to that. Butthe V-8 60 was ill-fated. It was out of production by 1940 (except in Europe where it lived on into the 1960s).This stemmed from lack of power (especially on hills or at high altitude) and excessive burning of oil, amongother defects. Of course, buyers in 1937 could not foresee these problems and may have been attractedby promises of greater economy for the V-8 60.All things considered, my view is that engineering shortcomings may have been a modest-to-significant factorin the poor sales of the 1937 models.Third: Recession of 1937-1938. Although the U.S. had emerged from the Depression around 1935-1936,it encountered a severe recession in 1937 and 1938. The recession was one of the longest in U.S. history.Before it was over, industrial production had fallen by 32%. In 1937, real GDP fell 3.5%, as non-farmunemployment rose 6.6% to a whopping 27.9%. The Federal Reserve raised banks’ reserve requirementsin August, 1936, and again in March and May, 1937, reducing banks’ ability to extend credit. The declinein industrial production from September to December, 1937, is the largest three-month decline in the historyof the Federal Reserve. Of all the states, manufacturing employment fell most in Michigan, as both autosales and auto production fell over 40%.As if this weren’t bad enough, several other factors were at play. By 1937, both GM and Chrysler hadbecome unionized. In April, 1937, the Supreme Court had decided that the National Labor Relations Act,which authorized unionization, was constitutional. GM had signed a collective bargaining agreement inFebruary, 1936, and Chrysler in April of that year. Largely due to Henry Ford’s willingness to use physicalforce to resist unionization, Ford was able to hold off the unions until 1941. But the public realized, correctly,that unionization in the auto industry would lead to higher prices in the showroom, and this caused buyersto defer or forego purchases. Higher prices were, in fact, announced by virtually all manufacturers in Octoberand November, 1937, and auto sales plummeted further. Within the auto industry, average hourly earningsrose 22%, from 79 cents per hour to 96 cents per hour, between October, 1936 and July, 1937.Compounding all this, the Government began to collect Social Security taxes in January, 1937, furtherdepressing buyers’ available funds. By contrast, funds availability was probably much greater in 1936because, during the last two weeks of June, 1936, the Government distributed about $800 million in VeteransBonuses, which was probably spent in 1936 by most recipients, helping to account for the higher 1936 carsales figures.In an excellent analysis, from which much of this economic information is abstracted, by Josh Hausmanentitled “What Was Bad for GM Was Bad for America: The Automobile Industry and the 1937-38Recession,” the author addresses whether the recession caused the poor auto production, or whether thepoor auto production may have caused the recession. The auto industry employed one in every sevenworkers in America during those days, and its importance to the economy cannot be overstated. If you haveany interest in reading Mr. Hausman’s analysis, I will bring a copy of the article to the meeting in March.Regardless whether the recession caused Ford’s travail, or Ford’s travail helped fuel the recession, I thinkyou will agree that both the economy and the auto industry were in terrible shape in 1937. Struggling againstthose huge headwinds, I think the auto industry was lucky to stay alive in 1937 and 1938. And I think wehave now have the main reason why 1937 Fords appear so infrequently in collections today.

FEBRUARY 2012 MEETING MINUTESby Mark Williams, SecretaryA special thanks to our guests Steve Andrews (1939 Sedan), Mark Otero, & Clarice (1950 pickup) for comingout to visit with us.The Sunday Breakfast has been changed to the 1st Saturday of the month at 0830 at the Mustang Cafélocated at Rich Ford on Wyoming and Lomas.Joe & Art had some vintage Ford literature for Show and Tell and Vern & Lori were our big winners for theraffle. Our program was presented by Jay Hertz for Frank Corey on Touring for the upcoming year and allmembers are encouraged to call other members for help with vehicle preparation so all can come out to theevents for this year.

MARCH 2012 MEETING PROGRAMPaint and Body by Sean SenaOur March 6 program will be led by Sean Sena of Sea-Nic 66 Restorations. Sean does high qualityrestorations and has done work for several Club members. He will talk about body preparation, materialselection, restoration costs, and other aspects of restoring a car’s paint and body. Sean has offered to havea tour of his shop sometime in the future, possibly along with Jimmy Johnson who owns the adjacent shopand has a number of award-winning custom Fords. Come prepared with questions for Sean.MARCH 4 BREAKFAST AND TOURby Joe AbbinThe breakfast this month will be held at the Mustang Café at Rich Ford on Saturday, March 4 at 8:30 am.Following breakfast we have been invited to tour Mild-to-Wild on the corner of 2nd and Summer. M2W hasa great facility that does paint and body, media striping, fabrication, etc. on all types of vehicles. Come onover!MARCH 2012 CLUB ACTIVITYSATURDAY, MARCH 12, GARAGE TOURby Joyce Clements1. Start the day at the TNT Muffler Shop, 12035 Central NE, 1 block east of Juan Tabo. Be there at10:00am, and Brian will show you his equipment for pipe-bending and exhaust systems.2. Next we head for Powdrell’s for a BBQ lunch. Address is 11301 Central NE, just west on Central. Weare expected there between 11:00am and 11:30am.3. After lunch, Frank Corey invited us to see his garage at 2513 Ross SE. Go west on Central to San Pedro.Turn left (south) and go to Gibson Blvd. Turn right (west) and go to Yale Blvd. Turn right (north) and driveto Ross Ave. (where old Pioneer Wear factory used to be and a motel currently is); turn right (east).4. Jay’s Shop, 2420 Midtown Place, Unit I. Go back to Yale Blvd. Turn left (south) and return to GibsonBlvd. Turn right (west) and go to University Blvd. Turn right (north) and go past Menaul. Universitybecomes the north-bound frontage road along I-25. Continue north on the frontage road to Comanche, thengo left (west) on Comanche, under the overpass, and turn right on Alexander, which is the first possible rightturn. Take Alexander to Midtown Road, which is about four blocks, make a right and then an immediate leftonto Midtown Place.5. Jeff’s shop, 8322 Calle Picaflor NW. Leave Jay’s and return to Comanche. Turn right (north) on EdithSt. to Montaño and turn left (west). Take Montaño west to Coors Blvd. Turn right (north) and go to FrontageRoad. Frontage Road is the turn into SIPI, note there is a Ram service station at that corner. The turn isimmediately before Coors goes under Paseo Del Norte. Turn right (east) at the Ram Station and then animmediate left and follow this road. River Point Health Center should be on your right side (if it is on yourleft go back to the Ram Station and start again). Follow that road. It will parallel Coors to the north for ashort distance then turn right ( east) and go behind the River Point Health Center past a green dinosaur andthen make a right ( south), to Calle de Alondra and turn left on Calle de Alondra. Go to the second streetCalle Picaflor. Jeff and Beth are the corner house at Calle de Alondra and Calle Picaflor. The address is8322 Calle Picaflor NW. If it were easy to get to the house you wouldn't need these detailed directions!MARCH 13, 2012 BOARD MEETINGBy Jay HertzHello, All. This is to let you know that we will be holding our March directors’/officers’ meeting of 2012 onTuesday, March 13, at my house, 8704 La Sala Del Sur, N.E. (phone 296-3137) beginning at 7:30 p.m. Itis near Wyoming and Candelaria. From that intersection, go east and take the second left-hand turn bay,which is General Stillwell. Go to the end of General Stillwell, which is only about four blocks. Where it ends,the house on the right is mine. It is a corner house with a stop sign on the property. The entrance is onGeneral Stillwell even though the address is on La Sala Del Sur. I will have refreshments. All members arewelcome to our Board meetings.

SPECIAL CLUB ACTIVITYJUNE 29-30, 2012Drive to Ruidoso on Friday, June 29. Overnight will be at the Lodge at Sierra Blanca. Special rate is $100for the night (normal rate is $190). Phone number for the Lodge is (575)258-5500, and you must tell themyou are with the Classic Car Show. Included is a free BBQ dinner (brisket, sausage, ribs, etc.) to be servedto all show registrants on Friday night at the Lodge. Saturday, June 30, we will participate in the Car Showat the Ruidoso Convention Center. Registration for the show is $30. You will be able to pre-register whenthe forms are available in February. Checks should be made to Make-A-Wish Foundation, who will get allthe proceeds. Show is from 7:30am to 3:00pm. There are to be awards and prizes. Their web site iswww.newmexicoclassiccarshow.com if you wish to find out more. After the show we will drive back toAlbuquerque and should be home before dark.